Campaign to reduce domestic abuse

Northern Constabulary and partner agencies have joined a national campaign to reduce domestic abuse.

Northern Constabulary Chief Constable George Graham spoke this week about the importance of partnership working in reducing instances of domestic abuse across the Highlands and Islands.

The Chief Constable was joined by fellow officers, the Chair of Crimestoppers Highlands and Islands, Jim Ferguson and the Head of Integrated Children’s Services at Highland Council, Jonathan King for Northern Constabulary’s part in the national Violence Reduction Unit’s campaign against domestic violence.

The Force regards domestic abuse as an area for priority attention and is committed to providing a professional and clear strategy, both to supporting victims as well as dealing with alleged perpetrators.

One part of its strategy has been to review domestic abuse incidents involving perpetrators who may have come to the attention of the Police in the past, which involves careful monitoring of all reports which arise from incidents of alleged domestic abuse.

The Force works closely with a number of partners to look at ways of reducing domestic abuse incidents across the Highlands and Islands, including Highland Council Social Work, NHS Highland, Victim Support, Women’s Aid groups, Violence Against Women groups and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

The main aims of the campaign are to raise awareness of domestic abuse across the Highlands and Islands, to establish effective practices and partnerships in protecting victims from abuse and to tackle the high number of repeat domestic abuse offenders.

The Police would also like to highlight that there is support available via the Respect phone-line, if there are certain aspects of someone’s behaviour which is giving them cause for concern and feel it may lead them into difficulty. The line is open between 10am and 1pm and 2pm until 5pm Monday to Friday by calling 0808 8024040 and calls are free from landlines and most mobiles.

The Force is also supporting the awareness raising work being carried out by White Ribbon Scotland, an organisation which targets men and asks them to take a stand against domestic abuse by signing its online petition.